Nationwide Conference
Saturday 21 April 3.00pm

By Chris Holland

Lee Pluck was the hero of the day as Barnet ended their home campaign with an eventful second goalless draw of the season against relegation threatened Woking.

Pluck took over the gloves following the sending off of Ricky Millard who was making his first start for the Bees. The draw also saw the visitors set a new Conference record of 9 consecutive draws.

Martin Allen made three changes following the trip to Gravesend. Junior Agogo returned to the starting line up, along with Danny Brown and Ricky Millard, who replaced injury-victims Fraser Toms and Danny Naisbett. This left Barnet without a substitute goalkeeper - a problem that later in the match looked as though it may come back to haunt them.

The first half seemed to have that typical end of season feel to it which was unusual given Woking's predicament. Barnet edged the early stages, Agogo blazing over from the edge of the area following Midgley's clever flick. Midgley and Yakabu then combined to tee up Pope whose 20-yard effort, low to Bayes left, was held by the Woking stopper.

Woking's early threat was restricted to set pieces, Nade heading Canham's free-kick wide, then from a Canham corner, Collins' header was held by Ricky Millard.

Midgley forced Bayes to save with his legs before the best chance of the first half saw Sharpling break clear, the Woking forward saw his shot beat Millard before going agonisingly wide of the far post.

Second Half

In the second half the visitors almost went in front when a scramble in the Barnet box saw the ball break to Sharpling who was closed down by Millard. Sharpling then seized upon a mix up between Millard and Pluck and his goalbound effort was diverted wide by Flynn.

Despite this it was Barnet who looked by far the more threatening, Flynn's forward pass was laid back by Midgley for Agogo, who rocketed the ball just over. Barnet then should have taken the lead when Midgley won the ball in midfield, Gower took the ball forward before laying the ball off to Flynn, who with just the keeper to beat, blazed wide.

As Barnet moved up a gear, Agogo headed wide from Gower's cross. Then the industrious G-Lo or Guy Lopez nearly put Barnet ahead when he let fly from 30-yards, the ball rebounded off the inside of the post and with Woking struggling to clear, Agogo and Gower got in each other's way with Boardman able to snuff out the danger.

Then came the sending off. Following another Barnet attack, Woking won the ball and a long ball forward saw Nade outpacing Lee Pluck. Ricky Millard came racing out of goal but the Woking striker got to the ball first and in attempting to lift the ball over Millard the ball struck the young keeper. The referee adjudged Millard to have handled the ball leaving him with no choice but to give Millard his marching orders.

With no substitute keeper on the bench, Lee Pluck took over between the posts and ably dealt with all crosses and shots that came at him. Woking's frustration seemed evident as Nade appeared to lash out at Barnet's very own Harry Kewell lookalike Craig Pope, the young Barnet defender handled himself with great credit when it would've been easy to retaliate.

I hope you all have a good summer.

Man of the Match

Guy Lopez

Bookings

Barnet

L.Flynn, 19, unsporting behaviour
R.Millard, 72, deliberate handball (red card)

Woking

No bookings

Teams

Barnet

R.Millard, I.Yakabu, L.Pluck, G.Butters, C.Pope, N.Midgley (B.Strevens 90), G.Lopez, L.Flynn, D.Brown, M.Gower, J.Agogo (T.Oshitola 79)

Unused subs: L.Baimass, M.Langston, K.Rowland

Woking

A.Bayes, B.Townsend, J.Campbell (N.Smith 84), D.Austin (A.Foyewa 66), J.Boardman, S.Canham, D.Clark (M.Williams 85), R.Nade, W.Patmore, C.Collins, C.Sharpling

R.Kember, I.Hamilton

Other Reports

Nationwide Conference
The Conference

Woking's official site had no report that I could see on 22/04/03.

I am no longer linking to Barnet's official site's match reports. Please see here for more information.